Tue, Dec 22, 2009
Letter Says IG Should Study TSA, FAA Vetting Process
Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller
IV (D-WV), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation, joined with Ranking Republican Member
Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) and Senators Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND),
Chairman of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Aviation Operations,
Safety, and Security, and Jim DeMint (R-SC), Ranking Member of the
U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and
Security, to send a bipartisan letter to the Inspector General of
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding recent
reports of individuals with connections to terrorism or criminal
activities holding valid Airman Certificates.
In the letter, dated December 14th, the group mentioned recent
media reports concerning "individuals with connections to terrorism
and other criminal activities" that hold valid airman certificates.
"Under a law Congress passed shortly after the 9/11 attacks, the
TSA is responsible for vetting the FAA’s Airmen Registration
Database (ARD) for individuals who pose a threat to transportation
security," the letter says. "While it is our understanding that TSA
and FAA have been collaborating since 2001 to vet the ARD for
potential security threats, there appear to be weaknesses in the
vetting system. Some individuals with terrorist connections
have apparently gone undetected by TSA’s vetting, while in
other cases, security threats who have been identified during the
vetting process have not lost their certification. We are
aware that FAA and TSA have recently implemented a new vetting
procedure that may correct many of the earlier shortcomings, but we
still have concerns about the effectiveness of this process."
The Senators ask the IG to conduct
a study of the vetting process, looking specifically at the
following:
- Is the current vetting process used by the FAA and TSA
sufficient to detect individuals known to be threats to national
security or transportation security, and to ensure that they no
longer have a valid airman certificate?
- Are there weaknesses in the vetting coordination process
between the FAA and the TSA that need to be addressed?
- Are there additional agencies that should be included in the
vetting process, that are not involved currently?
- Does the process use the appropriate technology to match names
on the ARD to names on other terrorist screening databases used by
TSA and/or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to identify
individuals that pose a threat to national security or
transportation security?
- Are TSA and/or DHS matching the ARD against the appropriate
terrorist screening databases in order to identify individuals
known to be threats to national security or transportation
security?
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